For private use at sea there is an ensign similar to the
national flag, but carrying a shield on the white strip with the
four symbols of the so-called "Sea Republics" (Repubbliche
Marinare) of Italian tradition: first quarter Venice (St.
Mark's winged lion holding a book), second Genoa (a red-on-white
cross), third Amalfi (Maltese white cross on dark blue) and
fourth quarter Pisa (peculiar-shaped white cross on red).
Navy carries the same flag, but the lion holds a sword instead of
a book and the whole shield is crowned. These flags are official
since 9th November 1947.Alessio Bragadini

Until the end of WW II, the Italian flag always had the Savoy
coat of arms in the center (without the crown: Merchant, with the
crown: naval ensign) {so there was no confusion at sea}. After
the war, the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag, but
in order to avoid confusion with the Mexican merchant flag, the
new Italian coat of arms was placed in the center of the Italian
merchant flag (again with no crown.)Nick Artimovich, 16 March 1998

As far as the usage of the Navy flag versus the private use at
sea is concerned, the lion holding a sword (St. Mark's Lion) have
a book as well, but in this case the book is closed. The reason
for is that in the open book you can read the Latin sentence
"PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS" (Peace to you Mark,
my Gospel writer), so in war time the Republic of Venice was not
allowing to read "peace" as the first word. Actually,
the two versions of the Naval Jack are embedding the two
different Venetian flags so maintaining their origin usage.Fabio Pasello , 15 Septemnber 1999

The present italian coat of arms is never shown either on the
merchant or on naval ensign. The shield you see there is the
italian naval shield (with crown - navy, without crown- merchant
ships). The prsent coat of arms of the Italian republic is the
one described in this page. The one on the
naval flags is made up by joining the 4 shields of the ancient
"repubbliche marinare": Pisa
(whitem "Pisan" cross on red field), Amalfi (white "Amalfi" cross
on blue field), Genoa (red cross on a
white field) and Venice (St.marks
lion with a sword for the navy and a book for the merchant ships,
gold on a blue field).Antonio De Girolamo, 14 June 2000

A beautiful photo of the Italian naval ensign (warning : 293
Kb) can be seen at <www.i-2000net.it>.
Dov Gutterman, 31 January 1999

According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) this is the
"Bandiera delle Forze Navali e degli Istituti Militari"
(Ensign of the Navy and (Naval) Military Institutions).Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000

Italian jack is a square banner of the arms appearing on the
naval ensign. The Amalfi cross was the original cross which was
taken then by the members of the Order of Malta. The reason of
that is that the members of this Order came originally from
Amalfi. Pascal Vagnat

According to Italian Navy site (now defunct) this is the
"Bandiera di bompresso per le UU.NN. della M.M" (Jack
for the Ships of the Navy).Dov Gutterman and Pier Paolo Lugli, 5 September
2000

The cap badge of the italian Carabinieri is a flaming grenade.Roy Stilling, 8 August 2000

The Carabinieri, as the national police force, have a seagoing
arm known as the Servizio Navale Carabinieri, established in 1969
and equipped with 179 craft ranging up to 26 tons.
Source: Jane's Fighting Ships 2000-2001.Joe McMillan, 11 August 2000

Spanish TV reported yesterday night the security measures
which have been taken in Rome due to the Pope's funeral, showing
images of several police and Carabinieri launches on the Tiber
river. A stern shot of one Carabinieri launch showed very clearly
the Carabinieri pennant hoisted on the left stern, with the war
ensign (Carabinieri are part of the military) on the right stern,
on symmetrical poles. The actual pennant looks brighter
than the image above: regular red, blue and yellow would make our
image more correct.Santiago Dotor, 7 April 2005

'Flagmaster', the magazine of the British Flag Institute, has an
article on Italian flags. This article is superbly illustrated by Roberto
Breschi (with those illustrations reproduced with his kind permission), and
shows an ensign for state ships which are not warships - "...di stato in mare (equippaggi
civil)" - and is the national tricolour with the state emblem (approx one-half
the width of the flag high) in its centre. The date of establishment is given as
2003.Christopher Southworth, 28 October 2011

In a page from an italian dictionary (Il Nuovissimo Melzi,
1952), sent by Alex Belfi, which displays the flags of
all european countries, there is also a Combat Flag (B. Combattimento).
Interesting but it is the Kingdom of
Italy jack . Probably out of date since it doesn't
appear at the Italian navy site.Dov Gutterman, 4 October 2000